A lousy manager can make our work experience poor, and potentially unbearable.

2. I have been interviewing happy managers for an article I am working on for Worthwhile Magazine. While talking to these great folks, I could not help but think that their employees are lucky - they all seemed to be a blast to work with.

So then I started thinking....

How does one impact whether they work for a great or lousy manager? Is it just a luck of the draw?

While you will never know for sure, you can better the odds that your new manager will be a good one.

How?

By being an artful interviewer.

Most people let the company own the interview process. They assume that the company is in the power seat and do very little in the way of screening the company and hiring manager. I have interviewed hundreds (maybe thousands) of folks and have seen very few interview me back.

A couple examples are fresh in my mind because I am helping a company find a VP of Sales and Marketing.

- One candidate was so good, he/she ran the interview. I was impressed. He/she made sure he/she got the information he/she needed.

- Another candidate did a great job and had a balanced approach. Asking good questions and sharing pertinent information.

- The rest of the candidates were smart and talented, but did not bother to interview us back. At this level (at any level) I expect more.

So, what questions should you ask? Here are a few examples. Each job and situation might call for different questions:

1. Always ask the hiring manager: What do you like best/least about your job? What are your career aspirations? How do you tend to manage people? What are your hot buttons? What stresses you out? Do you have fun at work? Of which accomplishment are you most proud? What is turnover like in the department? Why do people leave the department? Describe the work culture. What type of person is most likely to succeed/fail? How many people have you promoted? How did you get into management? What do you like most about managing people? (not all at once, mind you, sprinkle the questions into the conversation, or perhaps over several conversations)

2. Ask people OTHER THAN the hiring manager: What’s it like to work for the _____(the hiring manager)? Does he or she enjoy his or her work? Describe what it is like to work in the department. What do you like most/least about working here? Why have people left the company? What type of person is most likely to succeed/fail in this department? Do you have fun at work?

3. You will also want to ask about the company. Describe how the company is doing relative to its goals. What changes and new products are planned (they won’t always tell you this)? Who are the company’s competitors? What challenges does the company face in the near future? What kind of reputation does the company have in the marketplace? Who are the target customers?

4. Ask about the job. Over the next year, what would a home run look like? How have past incumbents struggled/succeeded? How has this job changed recently and are there more changes needed? How will you measure the success of the person who hold this job? Describe a typical day/week.

In this VP recruiting process, I was positioned as an external, somewhat objective, person who knew the hiring managers, peers and direct reports very well. I expected to be asked what it was like to work for the company president and CEO. But not everyone bothered to ask! I thought the question was important enough that when someone did not ask me this, I asked him or her, “don’t you want to know what it is like to work for ____?”

As a candidate, you need to come across as pleasant and cooperative, but this does not mean you should let the company run things. In fact, you will often get very high marks for asking well thought out questions. Personally, when someone does not bother to ask good questions, I am disappointed at their lack of preparedness and professionalism.

If you are looking for a job, I understand that, if choices are few, you may not be in a position to be picky about who you work for. But to the extent possible, try to get a read on the hiring manager and factor this into your decision making process.

TrackBack

» Management Craft: How to Interview Potential Employers from the electric stranger
Twice in the last 2 years I've interviewed in places where I've left the interview afterward feeling as if the interviewers weren't completely prepared for me, which I've always found really strange.
One interviewer from a couple years ago, more or... [Read More]

Tracked on March 02, 2005 at 05:59 PM

» How to interview employers from Lifehacker
It's easy for a job hunter to forget that an interview is about choosing an employer as well as an employee. When a job interviewer asks, "Do you have any questions?" you should have a bunch. Management expert Lisa Haneberg... [Read More]

Tracked on March 03, 2005 at 10:58 AM

» Interviewing an employer from certain doubt
I was surfing around the web this evening, and stumbled upon this gem, a [blog entry about interviewing a perspective employer](http://managementcraft.typepad.com/management_craft/2005/03/how_to_intervie.html):
> Most people let the company own the ... [Read More]

Tracked on March 04, 2005 at 10:39 PM

» Interviewing an employer from certain doubt
I was surfing around the web this evening, and stumbled upon this gem, a [blog entry about interviewing a perspective employer](http://managementcraft.typepad.com/management_craft/2005/03/how_to_intervie.html):
> Most people let the company own the ... [Read More]

» How to interview employers from JSR weblog
There’s a lot of crap advice out there when it comes to job-seeking. And as you saw when we uncovered Kathlene Watson as a fraud (see last month’s blog post) there are many charlatans out there as well posing as experts. So it was refreshi... [Read More]

Tracked on May 23, 2005 at 02:19 AM

» How to Get a Job in the Web Industry from Smiley Cat Weblog
Since I became the web team manager at Seattle Children's Hospital, I've been involved in the process of hiring people for my team for the first time. It's certainly been interesting to be involved in the interview process from the... [Read More]

Tracked on March 10, 2006 at 02:29 PM

» How to Get a Job in the Web Industry from Smiley Cat Weblog
Since I became the web team manager at Seattle Children's Hospital, I've been involved in the process of hiring people for my team for the first time. It's certainly been interesting to be involved in the interview process from the... [Read More]

Tracked on March 11, 2006 at 07:13 PM

» How to Get a Job in the Web Industry from Smiley Cat Weblog
Since I became the web team manager at Seattle Children's Hospital, I've been involved in the process of hiring people for my team for the first time. It's certainly been interesting to be involved in the interview process from the... [Read More]

Tracked on October 30, 2006 at 07:19 PM

Comments

BRAVO! I have often wondered why people looking for a job allow this to happen. Where I work we interview people about 6 or 7 times before they get an offer and here is why. #1 we wantt o see them in all sorts of situations, early morning interviews, late in the day interiews, 2 on 1 interviews and so on. But, we also want them to see us. I tell them that it is important that they realize what they are getting themselves into, I want them to see us when we are busy, slow, excited, let down etc... When someone chooses to come work for us they are making a big committment, why would you ever make a big committment with out asking a ton of questions and learning as much as you could. Great post Lisa!!!!

Over the years, there have been soooooooo many times I've stopped an interview midway through, and as kindly but honestly as possible, told the candidate they weren't going to get the job and why, and then switched to a coaching role, offering them another half hour or so with me for some tips on how to ace the next interview and make a better impression - but also gain something out of it for themselves too.

Here's another interesting thing: most took me up on the coaching offer, but only one called me back after he'd gotten home to think about it, asking me for a second try. I ended up hiring him after that second interview because I was so impressed with his willingness to change his own behavior and improve - he became a star in our company.

Howdy Lisa. Timely post. I have an interview in a couple of hours and I added some of your questions to those I already compiled. Thanks for the extra insight.

I've always advocated that the interview be as much of a conversation as possible - both for the interviewer and interviewee. And Matt's comments are right on. Taking on a new job is a commitment - I've gotten into a couple of bad situations simply because I never asked the right questions up front.

actually Lisa, your typo correction was a typo! You were using a possesive plural noun. Possessive plural forms of a noun signifies that the noun owns something, because the company has more than one goal: "describe how the company is doing relative to its' goals"
;)
What a fabulously helpful post! I have bookmarked this for my final interviews next week. Thank you!

That's what I love about blogs, you can get conversations going, and conversations within conversations. I'll let you grammarians duke it out over "its/it's", but it has been interesting reading your comments!

Travis, thanks for weighing in! You're right, it is something we should all know. Sorry I cut off the first part of your comment, I thought it was a duplicate!

(Dear readers, the first part of Travis' comment shared his opinion that knowing how to use its properly is something any good communicator should know and he said that is if he received a resume with the word used improperly, he would toss it.)